Saturday 14 March, saw an enthusiastic group of Alliance Youth activists descend on Holywood for a day of surveying.

We met at the Maypole and headed up Church Road to the left and to the right. Many surveys were returned, and it was great to be out and about with European candidate, Cllr Ian Parsley.

We are already looking forward to next month’s action day in Lisburn, but before that there are further events to come.

Alliance Youth is calling on as many young people as possible to support the silent protests to show their condemnation of the attack on Massereene Army Barracks on Saturday. The protests have been called by the Irish Congress of Trade Union’s Northern Ireland Committee.

The protests are from 1pm on Wednesday 11 March 2009 at Belfast City Hall, The Guildhall, Londonderry, and Newry Town Hall.

Following the news that two military personnel are dead and four other men including two civilians are in a serious condition after an attack on Massereene Army base in Antrim last night, Alliance Youth has condemned the actions of the few who are responsible.

An Alliance Youth spokesperson said: “Although no one so far has claimed responsibility, it is inconceivable that it was carried out by anyone other than dissident republicans. 

“It is important that this attack does not destabilise the political process and the peace settlement that we have. It is essential that the whole community in Northern Ireland comes together and we urge anyone with information about this attack to contact the Police.”

 

 

It's time for a new voice - It's time for YOUR voice

Former Alliance Youth chair, Cllr Ian Parsley has been selected as the Alliance Party’s candidate for the European Parliament election to be held on June 4th 2009.

Speaking to Alliance Youth on Friday 27 February, Ian said:

We are proud to call Northern Ireland our home, and we are deeply ambitious for it. That is why we have set our on a campaign where you can replace the politics of fear with the politcics of hope.

This campaign is about improving our engagement with Europe, not by rolling over to every ‘directive’ making us work for Europe, but by directing Europe to work for us. It is about improving our economic prospects, not by going to Brussels with a begging bowl, but by regulating to defend our small businesses and charities against the arrogance of the big banks. It is about improving our environmental future, not through fines and scare tactics, but through determined promotion of our local communities.

That is why this is a “unity” campaign - proud to be Alliance, but also proud to reach out beyond it. So if you are as ambitious for Northern Ireland as we are, and you want to pledge yourself to replacing the politics of fear with the politics of hope, come and join us.

Over the next few months we look forward to working with Cllr Ian Parsley in the lead up to the election on June 4th.

Contacting Ian is easy: 
email him on your...@allianceparty.org
If you are on Facebook, join his page here.

Alliance Youth secretary Michael Bower has praised police in rescuing two victims of human trafficking in the greater Belfast area, but has warned that this is a growing trend which requires more investment of police resources.

Michael Bower stated, “I congratulate the police for their work in rescuing these women from the living hell that they must have experienced. Human trafficking is a disgusting feature of modern society which must be tackled as robustly as possible.

“Last year, Alliance Youth ran a campaign to raise awareness about human trafficking in Northern Ireland and organised a petition signed by over 200 young people. Our campaign called for the Executive and the PSNI to take this issue seriously and to invest further resources into tackling the problem.

“Since then, the PSNI has set up an office to specifically investigate incidents of human trafficking, but we also heard Security Minister Paul Goggins state that it is not a real problem in Northern Ireland. We do however welcome the fact that following a meeting with Alliance Representatives, Paul Goggins is taking this issue more seriously.

“This police rescue shows that this sickening trade is a real problem and this incident is probably just the tip of the iceberg here.

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“Alliance Youth once again calls for more resources to be invested into combating this problem and bringing the perpetrators to justice.”